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Geo LTD.
Geo LTD. Animation, Inc. (colloquially known as Geo LTD. and for a time trading as Geo Limited Animation Incorporated) is an American entertainment company and animation studio that is a subsidiary of Universal Studios, a division of NBCUniversal, itself a division of Comcast. Based in Los Angeles, California, it produces animated feature films, short films and television programs. The studio was founded on May 1, 1963 as Geo LTD. Cartoon Studio. Geo Jones, a character from the ''Geo'' series, is the studio's mascot. In December 2015, Universal purchased Geo LTD. at a valuation of $6.7 billion, making it a division of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. The studio is best known for franchises including ''Geo'', ''Hatty'', ''Billy Blob'', ''Zane the Cool Kid'', Computerpolis, BJ and Wally, Woo La La, ''Dot Box'', ''Gabriel and the Wacky Pack'', Quest and Imaginary Animals (2017) and other hits like Chicken and Hen (2012), The Graffiti Brothers (2014) and Evolupia (2016). It has produced a total of 51 feature films, beginning with Geo's Funny Book Stories (1973) and its most recent being Imaginary Animals (2017). The studio has also produced several short films. Geo LTD. maintains two studios: the main Geo LTD. Animation headquarters in Los Angeles, California and the Blur Animation Workshop studio in Culver City, California. Although the studio also made traditionally animated films in the past, all of their films now use computer animation. In many years, the animation studio has acquired and created new divisions in an effort to diversify beyond the high-risk movie business. History Early history (1963–1979) Geo LTD. was founded on May 1, 1963 by George G. as Geo LTD. Cartoon Studio, which makes cartoons. Active from 1964 until 1972, the cartoon studio produced some of the most popular cartoon series and characters in the world, including their most famous cartoons Geo, Billy Blob ''and ''Hatty. In 1968, Geo LTD. Cartoon Studio was renamed Geo LTD. Productions. In 1973, Geo LTD. released their first feature film Geo's Funny Book Stories. In 1976, Geo LTD. Television was established to produce shows. In 1977, Geo LTD. holds a 4-year contract with Geo Universal to make its first and only movie, The Missing Adventures of Geo Guy, released in 1979. Partnership with Disney (1980–2003) On January 31, 1980, Geo LTD. entered into a 22-picture distribution agreement with The Walt Disney Company via Buena Vista Film Distribution Company. The agreement granted Disney worldwide rights to distribute all animated films, including previously released films, until the delivery of 22 new animated feature films or December 31, 2003, whichever came last. Despite this, all of Geo LTD's films are often considered non-Disney animated films. In 1980, Geo LTD. released its third film, The Crazy Lalo Madness, which was a box office bomb, but in 1981, Geo LTD. released Spiffed, which was released on home video in 1985, alongside Zane the Cool Kid, released in 1983. In 1985, Geo LTD. Productions was renamed into Geo LTD. Feature Animation. In April 1985, the studio teamed up with Film Roman to make Geo: The Animated Series on CBS. In 1987, they had released a sequel to Zane the Cool Kid, Zane the Cool Kid 2: Life Rocks. In 1992, Geo LTD. released its last installment in the classic Zane the Cool Kid series, Zane the Cool Kid 3: Back in a Cool and Awesome Kid. In 1993, Geo LTD. purchased Glass Ball Productions. In 1996, Geo LTD. signed a co-production deal with the animation and visual effects studio Blur Studio to form subsidiary BS, Inc. (Blur owned 60% of BS, Inc., while Geo LTD. owned 40%). This new unit would produce computer-generated feature films, beginning with Lost in a City in 1999. In 1999, Geo LTD. Feature Animation was renamed as Geo LTD. Animation before being shown in trailers for Geo LTD's first computer-animated feature, Lost in a City. During the summer 2002, Geo LTD. acquired the animation department of Blur Studio and formed Geo LTD. Blur (later Blur Animation Workshop). In the same year, the releases of Lollos and Geo: The Greatest Movie Ever marked the first time Geo LTD. released two films in the same year. Sony ownership (2004–08) Disney did not provide Geo LTD. with more capital nor did they purchase the company's remaining stake. According to Geo LTD. executives Geo G. and Michael Wildshill, they were surprised that Disney did not directly acquire the studio. Geo LTD. then looked for potential buyers. In March 2003, workers from DreamWorks and Sony Pictures began visiting Geo LTD. with purchase offers. Geo LTD. was interested in DreamWorks' offer, but the deal collapsed and in April 2003 Sony agreed to purchase Geo LTD. The deal was valued at approximately $1.7 billion, an amount that included about $500 million in debt assumptions. Geo LTD. continued to honor its distribution contract with Disney through its conclusion in 2003, after which Sony's Columbia Pictures is expected to handle future releases starting in 2004. The company completed its acquisition on June 2, 2003. On July 15, 2003, Sony agreed to sell a controlling interest in the Geo LTD. libraries to Soros Strategic Partners and Dune Entertainment II. The film libraries is valued at $900 million. Sony retained the worldwide distribution rights to these films, as well as various ancillary rights, including music publishing, sequels and merchandising. This includes films that had been made by Sony and Geo LTD. The sale was completed on August 12, 2003. Blue Ball was the last Geo LTD. film to be distributed by Disney, and Computerpolis became the first Geo LTD. film to be distributed by Columbia Pictures. Universal Studios era (2008–present) In June 2008, Variety reported that Geo LTD. was looking for financing that would allow it to continue operations, but as an animation production company, once its deal with Sony ended later that year. In August 2008, Geo LTD. signed a five-year distribution deal with Universal Pictures in which it will market, co-finance, and distribute Geo LTD's films starting in 2009. The deal also includes co-funding via a loan by Universal to Geo LTD. for production and access to slots in Universal's pay television agreement then with HBO. However, the deal did not include the distribution rights of previously released films, which Geo LTD. acquired from Sony later in 2010. This agreement is reported to have come after negotiations broke off with 20th Century Fox just days earlier. Geo LTD's last film with Columbia Pictures was BJ and Wally: FusionMania, and Geo LTD's first film with Universal Pictures was Woo La La and also includes Swapped and Dot Box. NBCUniversal subsidiary (2015–present) Geo LTD. and Universal attempted to reach a new agreement for ten months before it fell through in January 2012. The new deal would be only for distribution, as Geo LTD. intended to control production and own the resulting film properties themselves. The company also wanted to finance their films on their own and collect 100 percent of the profits, paying Universal only the distribution fee. More importantly, as part of any distribution agreement with Universal, Geo LTD. demanded control over films already in post-production, production and underway under their old agreement, including from Chicken and Hen (2012) to Gabriel and the Wacky Pack 2 (2014). Universal considered these conditions unacceptable, but Geo LTD. would not concede. Geo G. declared that Geo LTD. was actively seeking partners other than Universal. Despite this announcement, Geo LTD. did not enter negotiations with other distributors, although a Paramount Pictures spokesperson told The New York Times, "We would love to be in business with Geo LTD. They are a great company." After a lengthy hiatus, negotiations between the two companies resumed. Pending Universal's acquisition of Geo LTD., the two companies created a distribution deal for the intended 2015 release of Hatty, if the acquisition fell through, to ensure that this one film would still be released through Universal's distribution channels. In contrast to the earlier Universal/Geo LTD. deal, Hatty was to remain a Geo LTD. property and Universal would have received only a distribution fee. The deal was somehow renewed and extended on January 1, 2014 and is expected to expire in 2019. However, on July 21, 2015, Universal's parent company NBCUniversal ultimately agreed to buy Geo LTD. for approximately $7.4 billion in an all-stock deal. Following Geo LTD. shareholder approval, the acquisition was completed December 9, 2015; the company now operates as a division of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. In November 2016, Geo LTD. Ligne announced bankruptcy and was merged into the Clearwater Animation studios in Paris, France. In December 2016, Geo LTD. Animation went bankrupt and merged into Gingo Animation. Logo Instead of a traditional production logo, the opening credits of Geo LTD. films used to feature a title card that read "Geo LTD. Productions presents", and later, "Geo LTD. presents". Beginning with the release of Zane the Cool Kid 2: Life Rocks in 1987, Geo LTD. introduced its lens flare logo. The logo was created by Geo LTD. Feature Animation in traditional animation and featured the yellow Geo LTD. logo with lens flare flying through it against a black background. The credits originally used "Geo LTD. Animation presents" in their films. This logo and variations was seen before all films until 2014, when it was updated with the release of ''Gabriel and the Wacky Pack 2''. Designed by Steve Samono, the modernized logo, featuring the Geo LTD. text floating below a 20th Century Fox-like searchlight structure, was created completely in Blender and uses the Windows 98 startup sound. Beginning with the release of Geo 2 in 2015, the word "Animation" is dropped from the credits, thus making it simply called "Geo LTD. presents". In January 2017, another new logo and opening were introduced for the Geo LTD. Animation logo. The new opening begins with a paper flipping in the logo onto screen, drawing a outline of the Geo LTD. logo. The paper finishes flipping as an outline of the Geo LTD. logo turns into gold, and below the logo, the word "ANIMATION" writes itself. Then, the byline "A COMCAST COMPANY" was added below the logo, similar to the 2012 Universal Pictures logo. It was first seen in front of ''Imaginary Animals''. The font is set in Twentieth Century. Distribution After National General Pictures only distributed Geo's Funny Book Stories while The Missing Adventures of Geo Guy was distributed by 20th Century Fox, films produced by Geo LTD. were formerly distributed worldwide by Disney until 2003. When Sony bought Geo LTD. in 2003, this meant most Geo LTD. films were to be distributed by Columbia Pictures; this partnership ended in 2008. Geo LTD. signed a five-year distribution deal with Universal Pictures in the same year when Geo LTD. ended its partnership with Sony. The deal also includes co-funding by Universal to Geo LTD. for production. Originally, the deal included access to slots in Universal's pay television agreement with HBO, but went to Showtime instead. Woo La La became the first Geo LTD. film to be distributed by Universal. The broadcast and basic subscription cable television distribution rights to many Geo LTD. films are owned by NBCUniversal Television Distribution (NUTD), depending on content and region of license. In Canada, Alliance Films had the rights to release all Geo LTD's films from 2009 to 2013. Since 2009, many Geo LTD. films were originally aired by NBC in the United States through the Universal/Geo LTD. deal. United International Pictures (a joint venture of Universal and Paramount Pictures) formerly distributed most Geo LTD's films internationally. International Coming soon! Productions Feature films Geo LTD. has produced animated features in a series of animation techniques, including traditional animation and computer animation. The studio's first film, Geo's Funny Book Stories, was released on June 15, 1973, and their most recent film, Imaginary Animals, was released on March 3, 2017. Short films Television series Units Divisions *Glass Ball Productions, the company was acquired by Geo LTD. in 1993. **Wonderful Neon Productions **Glass Ball Productions Moscow **Glass Ball Online **Glass Ball Media *Creature Color Animation *Blur Animation Workshop (formerly known as Geo LTD. Blur), the animation department of Blur Studio was acquired by Geo LTD. in 2002. *VerniX Animation Studios, originally closed in 2002 due to the failure of The Autism Problem (2001); VerniX was revived by Geo LTD. in 2012. *Geo LTD. Television *Geo LTD. Consumer Products **Geo LTD. Publishing **Geo LTD. Licensing *Geo LTD. International Studios **Geo LTD. Entertainment Japan (formerly known as Geo LTD. Japan, Co.) ***Geo LTD. South Korea - formed in January 2017, after a merger between ex-TMS Entertainment companies Koko Enterprises, TMS Music (HK) Co Ltd and PT TOMS MEDIA SERVICE ASIA (TMS Asia). Located in Seoul, South Korea. **Geo LTD. New York, founded in August 2009 as Clearwater Animation New York, sold in January 2017, located at New York City, New York, United States. *Geo LTD. Records *Geo LTD. Mobile *Geo LTD. Theatrical Productions LLC *Geo LTD. Press *Geo LTD. Media *Geo LTD. Online Joint ventures *United International Pictures (formerly) Former/Defunct *Geo LTD. Home Entertainment, closed down and folded into Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in 2015. *Geo LTD. Ligne, the television animation subsidiary which productions are produced by Geo LTD. Television and, formerly, Geo LTD. France. It announced bankruptcy and closed down in November 2016. *Geo LTD. Interactive, closed down in January 2017. Gallery Geo LTD. (1963-1969).png|The old Geo LTD. logo from 1963 to 1969. Geo LTD. (black).png|The Geo LTD. logo Trivia Coming soon! See also *Illumination Entertainment *DreamWorks Animation *Universal Animation Studios *Geo LTD. Interactive *Geo LTD./upcoming release slate timeline Category:Companies Category:Geo LTD. Category:Geo LTD. Animation Category:20th Century Fox Category:Disney Category:Sony Category:Universal Studios Category:NBCUniversal Category:Comcast